Virginian Railway
Encyclopedia
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad
located in Virginia
and West Virginia
in the United States
. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal
from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads
.
Early in the 20th century, William Nelson Page
, a civil engineer
and coal mining manager, joined forces with a silent partner
, industrialist financier Henry Huttleston Rogers
(a principal of Standard Oil
and one of the wealthiest men in the world), to develop the Deepwater Railway
, a modest 85-mile long short line railroad to access untapped bituminous coal
reserves in some of the most rugged sections of southern West Virginia. When Page was blocked by collusion
of the bigger railroads, who refused to grant reasonable rates to interchange the coal traffic, he did not give up as they no doubt had anticipated. As he continued building the original project, to provide their own link, using Rogers' resources and attorneys they quietly incorporated another intrastate railroad in Virginia, the Tidewater Railway
. In this name, they secured the right-of-way
needed all the way across Virginia to reach Hampton Roads
, where a new coal pier
was erected at Sewell's Point
.
The two projects were legally joined and renamed the Virginian Railway in early 1907. Despite efforts to stop them, they then built the "Mountains to Sea" railroad right under the noses of the big railroads and the elite group of a few industrialists (so-called "robber baron
s") who controlled them. Completed in 1909, the Virginian Railway was largely financed through Rogers' personal fortune. It was a modern well-engineered railroad with all-new infrastructure and could operate more efficiently than its larger competitors.
Throughout a profitable 50-year history, the VGN continued the Page-Rogers philosophy of "paying up front for the best". It achieved best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont, and flat tidewater terrain. Known for operating some of the largest and best steam, electric, and diesel motive power, it became nicknamed "Richest Little Railroad in the World." Merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway
in 1959, a large portion of the former VGN remains in service in the 21st century for the Norfolk Southern Railway
, a Class I railroad
headquartered in Norfolk, a few blocks from the former Virginian Railway offices in Norfolk Terminal Station
.
Two years after the merger, the VGN began gaining new life in a book, as it was presented as classic story of competitive business intrigue mixed with a story-telling writing style about the lore of the railroad and its people. The Virginian Railway, written by author
and historian
H. Reid
, was first published in 1961, and has been reprinted a number of times in years since. First and second editions of the book have become collectible items, among other relics of the VGN. Although one of the smaller fallen flag
s of U.S. railroads, the VGN continues over 50 years later to have an amazingly loyal following of former employees, modelers, authors, photographers, historians and preservationists. Early in the 21st century, many of these now belong to the Virginian Railway (VGN) Enthusiasts, which is one of the Internet
's most vibrant Yahoo! groups. A group of retirees in Roanoke
, Virginia
meet each week and answer questions from a worldwide base of over 700 members. Annual seminars have a growing attendance and preservation activities have been increasing, even as the VGN itself fades into history.
, coal mining manager, and entrepreneur
, William Nelson Page
. His partner was millionaire
industrialist, Henry Huttleston Rogers
. Together, they built a well-engineered railroad that was virtually a "conveyor belt on rails" to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal
from southern West Virginia
to port on Hampton Roads
, near Norfolk, Virginia
.
The story of the building of the Virginian Railway has been described as a textbook example of natural resource
s and railroads, and of a smaller company taking on big business
(and winning) early in the 20th century. It was a time when many railroads were under the common control of a few powerful developers, who took on competitors without antitrust
restraints.
The Virginian was considered a folly at the time of construction, as so much capital was spent on making the railroad as flat and straight as possible, "As though the Virginia hills did not exist". In the long run this proved to be a very profitable route as operating costs were low due to the relative lack of grades and little curvature of track.
(1854–1932) was a civil engineer
and entrepreneur
. Page, who was born in Virginia and educated at the University of Virginia
in Charlottesville
, originally came to West Virginia
in the 1870s to help build the double-track Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
in the New and Kanawha River
Valleys.
A colorful man by all accounts, Colonel Page, as he came to be known, soon became involved in many coal and related enterprises in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, settling in the tiny mountain hamlet of Ansted
in Fayette County
, West Virginia
.
Col. Page was one of the more successful men who developed West Virginia's rich bituminous coal
fields in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and built the railroads
to transport the coal. With his training and experience as a civil engineer, Page was exceptionally well prepared to capitalize on southern West Virginia's hidden wealth. Former West Virginia Governor William A. MacCorkle
described him as a man who knew "the land as a farmer knows his fields." He was also an energetic entrepreneur. Author H. Reid
summed it up by labeling Col. Page "The idea man from Ansted."
Henry Huttleston Rogers
(1840–1909) was a financier
and industrialist who had grown up in a working-class family in Massachusetts. He began working while young, and had helped part-time in his father's grocery store and delivered newspapers. After graduating from high school, Rogers got experience as a brakeman on a local railroad while saving his money. In 1861 he and a friend set out for the mountains of Pennsylvania
, and helped develop oil
and natural gas
resources there during the U.S. Civil War
, eventually becoming one of the key men with John D. Rockefeller
's Standard Oil
Trust and a multi-millionaire
. One of the wealthiest men in the United States, Rogers was an energetic entrepreneur, much like the younger Page, and was also involved in many rail and mineral development projects.
Rogers became acquainted with Page while the latter was president of Gauley Mountain Coal Company, among many other ventures. Page knew of rich untapped bituminous coal
fields lying between the New River Valley
and the lower Guyandotte River
in southern West Virginia in an area not yet reached by the C&O and its major competitor, the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W). While the bigger railroads were preoccupied in developing nearby areas and shipping coal
via rail to Hampton Roads
, Page formed a plan to take advantage of the undeveloped coal lands, with Rogers and several others as investors. A powerful partnership had been formed.
, formed in 1898, an intrastate line intended to be only in West Virginia. Eventually, after establishing relationships to interchange coal traffic with the bigger railroads failed, the Deepwater's right-of-way
was extended to reach the West-Virginia-Virginia state line near Glen Lyn, Virginia
. Important points on the Deepwater Railway were Page
, Mullens
and Princeton
in West Virginia.
Over in Virginia, another intrastate railroad, the Tidewater Railway
, was formed in 1904, with right-of-way all the way across the southern tier of Virginia from Giles County
(which borders West Virginia) to Norfolk County
on Hampton Roads
. The principal points were Roanoke
, Victoria
, Suffolk
, and Sewell's Point
, a rural location where a new coal pier
was located on the harbor near Norfolk
.
Late in 1906, near the halfway point on the Tidewater Railway between Roanoke and Sewell's Point, a new town with space set aside for railroad offices and shops was created in Lunenburg County, Virginia
. It was named Victoria
, in honor of Queen Victoria
of England, who was long-admired by Henry Rogers.
Victoria was the location of a large equipment maintenance operation, with roundhouse, turntable coaling and water facilities for servicing steam locomotives, and a large yard. Offices for the VGN's Norfolk Division were built by adding a second floor to the passenger station building a few years later.
Work progressed on the VGN throughout 1907 and 1908 using construction techniques not available when the larger railroads had been built about 25 years earlier. By paying for work with Henry Rogers' own personal fortune, the railway was built with no public debt. This feat, a key feature of the successful secrecy in securing the route, was not accomplished without some considerable burden to Rogers, however.
Rogers suffered some financial setbacks in the Financial Panic of 1907
which began in March. Then, a few months later that same year, he experienced a debilitating stroke
. He was largely disabled for five months. Fortunately, Henry Rogers recovered his health, at least partially, and saw to it that construction was continued on the new railroad until it was finally completed early in 1909.
Bridge at Glen Lyn
, near where the new railroad crossed the West Virginia
-Virginia
state line.
In April, 1909, Henry Huttleston Rogers
and Mark Twain
, old friends, returned to Norfolk, Virginia
together once again for a huge celebration of the new "Mountains to the Sea" railroad's completion.
Rogers left the next day on his first (and only) tour of the newly completed railroad. He died suddenly only six weeks later at the age of 69 at his home in New York. But by then, the work of the Page-Rogers partnership to build the Virginian Railway had been completed.
While neither William Page or Henry Rogers ended up running the railway, it was arguably a crowning lifetime achievement for each man. Together, they had conceived and built a modern, well-engineered rail pathway from the coal mines of West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads right under the noses of the big railroads. The Virginian Railway could operate more efficiently than its larger competitors, had all-new infrastructure, and no debt. It was an accomplishment like no other in the history of US railroading, before or since.
and William R. Coe were among its leaders. Coe served almost its entire history. Throughout that profitable 50-year history, the VGN continued to follow the Page-Rogers policy of "paying up front for the best." It became particularly well known for treating its employees and vendors well, another investment that paid rich dividends. The VGN sought (and achieved) best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont and flat tidewater terrain. The profitable VGN experimented with the finest and largest steam, electric, and diesel locomotive
s. It was well known for operating the largest and best equipment, and could afford to. It became nicknamed "the richest little railroad in the world."
The VGN had a very major grade at Clark's Gap, West Virginia, and tried ever-larger steam locomotive
s before turning to an alternative already in use by one of its neighboring competitors, Norfolk & Western Railway: a railway electrification system
. With work authorized beginning in 1922, a 134-mile portion of the railroad in the mountains from Mullens, West Virginia
over Clark's Gap and several other major grades to Roanoke, Virginia
was equipped with overhead wires supported by a catenary
system. The VGN built its own power plant at Narrows, Virginia
. The electrification was completed in 1925 at a cost of $15 million, equal to $ today. A link was established with Norfolk & Western to share electricity from its nearby electrification during contingencies. ALCO and Westinghouse
supplied the electric locomotive
s, which were equipped with pantograph
s. The 36 initial units were normally linked in groups of three as one set, and had much greater load capacity than the steam power they replaced. In 1948, four huge EL-2B
twin-unit locomotives were purchased, followed by twelve EL-C
rectifier locomotives in 1955.
The seemingly remotely located terminal Page and Rogers planned and built at Sewell's Point
played an important role in 20th-century U.S. naval history. Beginning in 1917, the former Jamestown Exposition
grounds adjacent to the VGN coal pier became an important facility for the United States Navy
. The VGN transported the high quality "smokeless" West Virginia bituminous coal
favored by the US Navy
for its ships, providing a reliable supply during both World Wars.
In the mid 1950s VGN management realized that the company's devotion to coal as its energy source (for steam locomotives and the power plant at Narrows for the electrification system) was becoming overshadowed by the economies of diesel-electric locomotive
s and a scarcity of parts for the older steam locomotives. Between 1954 and 1957 a total of 66 diesel-electric locomotives were purchased, including 25 Fairbanks-Morse
H-24-66 Train Masters, and 40 H-16-44
smaller road switchers, two with steam generators to haul passenger trains. The last steam locomotive operated in June, 1957
.
, named for Col. William Page, became the site of a switching yard, roundhouse, and station on the Deepwater Railway
and later the Virginian Railway (VGN). After the railroad eliminated steam locomotive
s in 1957 and the area's coal mines were largely depleted, the facilities at Page were unneeded. Mullens
and Princeton
in West Virginia, and Roanoke
, Victoria
and Sewell's Point
in Virginia were other locations where the extensive steam locomotive servicing facilities and roundhouses were also no longer needed after 1957. The pattern was the same all across America as the steam locomotive era ended.
During World War I
the VGN was jointly operated with its adjacent competitor, the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W), under the USRA
's wartime takeover of the Pocahontas Roads. The operating efficiencies were significant. After the war, the railroads were returned to their respective owners and competitive status. However, the N&W never lost sight of the VGN and its low-grade routing through Virginia.
After World War I there were many attempts by the C&O, the N&W, and others to acquire the profitable Virginian Railway. However, the US Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) turned down attempts at combining the roads until the late 1950s, when a proposed Norfolk & Western Railway and Virginian Railway merger was finally approved in 1959. The VGN-NW merger is widely believed to have begun the modern era of major railroad mergers as the ICC came to accept that railroads needed to be able to compete more successfully against other modes of transport (i.e. highways and air travel) rather than just against each other.
.
Other portions of VGN right-of-way in eastern Virginia now transport fresh water and are under study for future high speed passenger rail service to South Hampton Roads from Richmond and Petersburg.
The former VGN property at Sewell's Point is part of the US Naval Station, Norfolk, the largest naval facility in the world.
The Virginian Railway is still a favorite among the many fallen flag
s of railroading in the US.
Hobbyists around the world model the VGN in many scales and gauges, with some items considered to be valuable collectibles.
Demonstrative of the lasting spirit of the Virginian, preservationists have saved VGN passenger stations in Suffolk and Roanoke, Virginia. The Suffolk
Passenger Station, which was also used by the Seaboard railroads, has been restored and is in use as a museum. Similar plans are underway by the local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society
in Roanoke
for the Virginian Railway Passenger Station
. The Oak Hill Railroad Depot
in Oak Hill, West Virginia
, the only remaining Virginian station in West Virginia, has also been restored by the local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
Three of the VGN's locomotives and numerous cabooses and other rolling stock survive. One steam and one electric locomotive have been cosmetically restored, and are on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation
in Roanoke, Virginia
.
In October, 2002 VGN authors and enthusiasts restored the Mullens, West Virginia
Caboose Museum which had been ravaged in one of West Virginia's notorious floods. The work was funded by sale of handmade models and contributions.
In May, 2003 a Gathering of Rail Friends was held at Victoria, Virginia
, home to a new museum, with a park with historical interpretations of the roundhouse and turntable sites under development. The Norfolk Southern Railway
sent its exhibition train to nearby Crewe
for the event.
Also in May 2003, the Virginian Railway Yard Historic District
at Princeton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 2003.
In April, 2004 children of Boonsboro Elementary School in nearby Bedford, Virginia
and the local Kiwanis group in Lynchburg, Virginia
teamed to raise funds and work to save the only surviving original (circa 1910) class C-1 wooden Caboose.
In October, 2004, the Roanoke Times newspaper ran a feature story about the weekly meetings of the "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren" group of retired VGN railroaders, prominently displaying the model of a modern GE locomotive in Virginian Railway livery, which they hope the railroad will use as a basis for a special painting of current-day Norfolk Southern Railway
locomotive to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1907 founding of their favorite railroad, the Virginian Railway.
In December, 2004, a fully restored and equipped VGN caboose, C-10 #342, built by VGN employees in the former Princeton (WV) Shops, was moved to newly laid rails at Victoria
, where it is the centerpiece of a new rail heritage park. It was dedicated in the summer of 2005, and has become a favorite of school groups in Southside Virginia.
In April 2005, the Virginian Railway Coalfield Seminar was held for three days at Twin Falls State Park, near Mullens, West Virginia
. Railfriends from many parts of the United States toured coal mining and railroad facilities for three days on several buses, and participated in presentations and group seminars with a Congressman, local officials, several noted authors and historians. The delegation of retirees based in Roanoke also attended. The program was considered to be the start of celebration of the railroad's centennial from 2007 until 2009.
The following year, in April, 2006, the Milepost 2006 seminar was held in Roanoke, Virginia. Again, several days of events, presentations, special tours, and a visit to the currently closed former Virginian Railway Passenger Station
in Roanoke which is currently under preservation and restoration.
's storytelling and photography in "The Virginian Railway", published in 1961, and reprinted at least three times, there have been numerous books published and enthusiasts groups formed, some of which meet physically, and others, on the World Wide Web.
Formed in 2002, the Virginian Railway (VGN) Enthusiasts, a non-profit group of preservationists, authors, photographers, historians, modelers, and rail fans has grown to over 850 members as far from the VGN tracks as New Zealand
, Australia
, including U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East
. A group of retired railroaders calling themselves "The Virginian Brethren" meet weekly, share tales of the VGN, and answer questions posed by members of the online group.
Class I railroad
A Class I railroad in the United States and Mexico, or a Class I rail carrier in Canada, is a large freight railroad company, as classified based on operating revenue.Smaller railroads are classified as Class II and Class III...
located in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
.
Early in the 20th century, William Nelson Page
William N. Page
William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
, a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and coal mining manager, joined forces with a silent partner
Silent partner
Silent partner may refer to:*An anonymous member of a business partnership, or one uninvolved in management*The Silent Partner, the name of several films*Silent partner , a piece of climbing equipment...
, industrialist financier Henry Huttleston Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
(a principal of Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
and one of the wealthiest men in the world), to develop the Deepwater Railway
Deepwater Railway
The Deepwater Railway was an intrastate short line railroad located in West Virginia in the United States which operated from 1898 to 1907.William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, had begun a small logging railroad in Fayette County in 1896, sometimes called the Loup Creek and Deepwater...
, a modest 85-mile long short line railroad to access untapped bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
reserves in some of the most rugged sections of southern West Virginia. When Page was blocked by collusion
Collusion
Collusion is an agreement between two or more persons, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage...
of the bigger railroads, who refused to grant reasonable rates to interchange the coal traffic, he did not give up as they no doubt had anticipated. As he continued building the original project, to provide their own link, using Rogers' resources and attorneys they quietly incorporated another intrastate railroad in Virginia, the Tidewater Railway
Tidewater Railway
The Tidewater Railway was formed in 1904 as an intrastate railroad in Virginia, in the United States, by William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, and his silent partner, millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers of Standard Oil fame...
. In this name, they secured the right-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
needed all the way across Virginia to reach Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, where a new coal pier
Coal pier
A coal pier is a transloading facility designed for the transfer of coal between rail and ship.The typical facility for loading ships consists of a holding area and a system of conveyors for transferring the coal to dockside and loading it into the ship's cargo holds...
was erected at Sewell's Point
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette...
.
The two projects were legally joined and renamed the Virginian Railway in early 1907. Despite efforts to stop them, they then built the "Mountains to Sea" railroad right under the noses of the big railroads and the elite group of a few industrialists (so-called "robber baron
Robber baron (industrialist)
Robber baron is a pejorative term used for a powerful 19th century American businessman. By the 1890s the term was used to attack any businessman who used questionable practices to become wealthy...
s") who controlled them. Completed in 1909, the Virginian Railway was largely financed through Rogers' personal fortune. It was a modern well-engineered railroad with all-new infrastructure and could operate more efficiently than its larger competitors.
Throughout a profitable 50-year history, the VGN continued the Page-Rogers philosophy of "paying up front for the best". It achieved best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont, and flat tidewater terrain. Known for operating some of the largest and best steam, electric, and diesel motive power, it became nicknamed "Richest Little Railroad in the World." Merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway
Norfolk and Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
in 1959, a large portion of the former VGN remains in service in the 21st century for the Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
, a Class I railroad
Class I railroad
A Class I railroad in the United States and Mexico, or a Class I rail carrier in Canada, is a large freight railroad company, as classified based on operating revenue.Smaller railroads are classified as Class II and Class III...
headquartered in Norfolk, a few blocks from the former Virginian Railway offices in Norfolk Terminal Station
Norfolk Terminal Station
Norfolk Terminal Station was a union railroad station located in Norfolk, Virginia which served passenger trains and provided offices for the Norfolk and Western Railway, the original Norfolk Southern Railway and the Virginian...
.
Two years after the merger, the VGN began gaining new life in a book, as it was presented as classic story of competitive business intrigue mixed with a story-telling writing style about the lore of the railroad and its people. The Virginian Railway, written by author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
H. Reid
H. Reid
Harold A. Reid was an American writer, photographer, and historian. Reid is best known for his lifelong love of railroading and related photography and published work...
, was first published in 1961, and has been reprinted a number of times in years since. First and second editions of the book have become collectible items, among other relics of the VGN. Although one of the smaller fallen flag
Fallen flag
A fallen flag is a North American railroader and railfan term referring to railroad company no longer in existence due to bankruptcy or merger.-Background:...
s of U.S. railroads, the VGN continues over 50 years later to have an amazingly loyal following of former employees, modelers, authors, photographers, historians and preservationists. Early in the 21st century, many of these now belong to the Virginian Railway (VGN) Enthusiasts, which is one of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
's most vibrant Yahoo! groups. A group of retirees in Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
meet each week and answer questions from a worldwide base of over 700 members. Annual seminars have a growing attendance and preservation activities have been increasing, even as the VGN itself fades into history.
Building the Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway (VGN) was conceived early in the 20th century by two men. One was a brilliant civil engineerCivil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, coal mining manager, and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, William Nelson Page
William N. Page
William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
. His partner was millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
industrialist, Henry Huttleston Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
. Together, they built a well-engineered railroad that was virtually a "conveyor belt on rails" to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
from southern West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
to port on Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, near Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
.
The story of the building of the Virginian Railway has been described as a textbook example of natural resource
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
s and railroads, and of a smaller company taking on big business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
(and winning) early in the 20th century. It was a time when many railroads were under the common control of a few powerful developers, who took on competitors without antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
restraints.
The Virginian was considered a folly at the time of construction, as so much capital was spent on making the railroad as flat and straight as possible, "As though the Virginia hills did not exist". In the long run this proved to be a very profitable route as operating costs were low due to the relative lack of grades and little curvature of track.
Partnership: The idea man from Ansted and a self-made multi-millionaire
William Nelson PageWilliam N. Page
William Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
(1854–1932) was a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
. Page, who was born in Virginia and educated at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
in Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
, originally came to West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
in the 1870s to help build the double-track Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...
in the New and Kanawha River
Kanawha River
The Kanawha River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 97 mi long, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The largest inland waterway in West Virginia, it has formed a significant industrial region of the state since the middle of the 19th century.It is formed at the town of Gauley...
Valleys.
A colorful man by all accounts, Colonel Page, as he came to be known, soon became involved in many coal and related enterprises in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, settling in the tiny mountain hamlet of Ansted
Ansted, West Virginia
Ansted is a town in Fayette County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is situated on high bluffs along U.S. Highway 60 on a portion of the Midland Trail a National Scenic Byway near Hawk's Nest overlooking the New River far below....
in Fayette County
Fayette County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,579 people, 18,945 households, and 13,128 families residing in the county. The population density was 72 people per square mile . There were 21,616 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
.
Col. Page was one of the more successful men who developed West Virginia's rich bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
fields in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and built the railroads
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
to transport the coal. With his training and experience as a civil engineer, Page was exceptionally well prepared to capitalize on southern West Virginia's hidden wealth. Former West Virginia Governor William A. MacCorkle
William A. MacCorkle
William Alexander MacCorkle , was a United States teacher, lawyer, prosecutor, the ninth Governor of West Virginia and state legislator of West Virginia, and financier.-Biography:...
described him as a man who knew "the land as a farmer knows his fields." He was also an energetic entrepreneur. Author H. Reid
H. Reid
Harold A. Reid was an American writer, photographer, and historian. Reid is best known for his lifelong love of railroading and related photography and published work...
summed it up by labeling Col. Page "The idea man from Ansted."
Henry Huttleston Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
(1840–1909) was a financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
and industrialist who had grown up in a working-class family in Massachusetts. He began working while young, and had helped part-time in his father's grocery store and delivered newspapers. After graduating from high school, Rogers got experience as a brakeman on a local railroad while saving his money. In 1861 he and a friend set out for the mountains of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and helped develop oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
resources there during the U.S. Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, eventually becoming one of the key men with John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
's Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
Trust and a multi-millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
. One of the wealthiest men in the United States, Rogers was an energetic entrepreneur, much like the younger Page, and was also involved in many rail and mineral development projects.
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
fields lying between the New River Valley
New River Valley
The New River Valley is a region in the eastern United States along the New River in the Commonwealth of Virginia . The valley comprises the counties of Montgomery , Pulaski, Floyd, Giles and the independent City of Radford...
and the lower Guyandotte River
Guyandotte River
The Guyandotte River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 166 mi long, in southwestern West Virginia in the United States. It was named after the French term for the Wendat Native Americans...
in southern West Virginia in an area not yet reached by the C&O and its major competitor, the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W). While the bigger railroads were preoccupied in developing nearby areas and shipping coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
via rail to Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, Page formed a plan to take advantage of the undeveloped coal lands, with Rogers and several others as investors. A powerful partnership had been formed.
Deepwater Railway and Tidewater Railway
Originally, the Page-Rogers scheme was a short line railroad, the Deepwater RailwayDeepwater Railway
The Deepwater Railway was an intrastate short line railroad located in West Virginia in the United States which operated from 1898 to 1907.William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, had begun a small logging railroad in Fayette County in 1896, sometimes called the Loup Creek and Deepwater...
, formed in 1898, an intrastate line intended to be only in West Virginia. Eventually, after establishing relationships to interchange coal traffic with the bigger railroads failed, the Deepwater's right-of-way
Right-of-way (railroad)
A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...
was extended to reach the West-Virginia-Virginia state line near Glen Lyn, Virginia
Glen Lyn, Virginia
Glen Lyn is a town in Giles County, Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the East and New Rivers. The population was 151 at the 2000 census...
. Important points on the Deepwater Railway were Page
Page, West Virginia
Page is an unincorporated census-designated place in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 224. It was named for William Nelson Page , a civil engineer and industrialist who lived in nearby Ansted, where he managed Gauley Mountain Coal Company and...
, Mullens
Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
and Princeton
Princeton, West Virginia
Princeton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 7,652 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 111,586. It is the county seat of Mercer County...
in West Virginia.
Over in Virginia, another intrastate railroad, the Tidewater Railway
Tidewater Railway
The Tidewater Railway was formed in 1904 as an intrastate railroad in Virginia, in the United States, by William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, and his silent partner, millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers of Standard Oil fame...
, was formed in 1904, with right-of-way all the way across the southern tier of Virginia from Giles County
Giles County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,657 people, 6,994 households, and 4,888 families residing in the county. The population density was 47 people per square mile . There were 7,732 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile...
(which borders West Virginia) to Norfolk County
Norfolk County, Virginia
Norfolk County was a county of the South Hampton Roads in eastern Virginia in the United States that was created in 1691. After the American Civil War, for a period of about 100 years, portions of Norfolk County were lost and the territory of the county reduced as they became parts of the separate...
on Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
. The principal points were Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
, Victoria
Victoria, Virginia
Victoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
, Suffolk
Suffolk, Virginia
Suffolk is the largest city by area in Virginia, United States, and is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,585. Its median household income was $57,546.-History:...
, and Sewell's Point
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette...
, a rural location where a new coal pier
Coal pier
A coal pier is a transloading facility designed for the transfer of coal between rail and ship.The typical facility for loading ships consists of a holding area and a system of conveyors for transferring the coal to dockside and loading it into the ship's cargo holds...
was located on the harbor near Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
.
Victoria is created
Lunenburg County, Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,146 people, 4,998 households, and 3,383 families residing in the county. The population density was 30 people per square mile . There were 5,736 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
. It was named Victoria
Victoria, Virginia
Victoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
, in honor of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
of England, who was long-admired by Henry Rogers.
Victoria was the location of a large equipment maintenance operation, with roundhouse, turntable coaling and water facilities for servicing steam locomotives, and a large yard. Offices for the VGN's Norfolk Division were built by adding a second floor to the passenger station building a few years later.
1907: Virginian railway is born
The Virginian Railway Company was formed in Virginia on March 8, 1907 to combine the Deepwater Railway in West Virginia and the Tidewater Railway in Virginia into a single interstate railroad, only a few months after Victoria was incorporated. On April 15, 1907, William Nelson Page became the first president of the new Virginian Railway.Work progressed on the VGN throughout 1907 and 1908 using construction techniques not available when the larger railroads had been built about 25 years earlier. By paying for work with Henry Rogers' own personal fortune, the railway was built with no public debt. This feat, a key feature of the successful secrecy in securing the route, was not accomplished without some considerable burden to Rogers, however.
Rogers suffered some financial setbacks in the Financial Panic of 1907
Panic of 1907
The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...
which began in March. Then, a few months later that same year, he experienced a debilitating stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. He was largely disabled for five months. Fortunately, Henry Rogers recovered his health, at least partially, and saw to it that construction was continued on the new railroad until it was finally completed early in 1909.
Last spike, celebrations
The last spike in the Virginian Railway was driven on January 29, 1909, at the west side of the massive New RiverNew River (West Virginia)
The New River, part of the Ohio River watershed, is a tributary of the Kanawha River about 320 mi long. The river flows through the U.S. states of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia...
Bridge at Glen Lyn
Glen Lyn, Virginia
Glen Lyn is a town in Giles County, Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the East and New Rivers. The population was 151 at the 2000 census...
, near where the new railroad crossed the West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
-Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
state line.
In April, 1909, Henry Huttleston Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
and Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, old friends, returned to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
together once again for a huge celebration of the new "Mountains to the Sea" railroad's completion.
Rogers left the next day on his first (and only) tour of the newly completed railroad. He died suddenly only six weeks later at the age of 69 at his home in New York. But by then, the work of the Page-Rogers partnership to build the Virginian Railway had been completed.
While neither William Page or Henry Rogers ended up running the railway, it was arguably a crowning lifetime achievement for each man. Together, they had conceived and built a modern, well-engineered rail pathway from the coal mines of West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads right under the noses of the big railroads. The Virginian Railway could operate more efficiently than its larger competitors, had all-new infrastructure, and no debt. It was an accomplishment like no other in the history of US railroading, before or since.
Operating and Electrifying "the Richest Little Railroad in the World"
Mr. Rogers left his heirs and employees with a marvelous new railroad which remained closely held until 1937; his son and sons-in-law such as Urban H. BroughtonUrban H. Broughton
Urban Hanlon Broughton was an English civil engineer, railroad and mining executive, and Conservative Party Member of Parliament. In 1929, he was in line for elevation to the peerage, but he died in January before the process was finalized...
and William R. Coe were among its leaders. Coe served almost its entire history. Throughout that profitable 50-year history, the VGN continued to follow the Page-Rogers policy of "paying up front for the best." It became particularly well known for treating its employees and vendors well, another investment that paid rich dividends. The VGN sought (and achieved) best efficiencies in the mountains, rolling piedmont and flat tidewater terrain. The profitable VGN experimented with the finest and largest steam, electric, and diesel locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s. It was well known for operating the largest and best equipment, and could afford to. It became nicknamed "the richest little railroad in the world."
The VGN had a very major grade at Clark's Gap, West Virginia, and tried ever-larger steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s before turning to an alternative already in use by one of its neighboring competitors, Norfolk & Western Railway: a railway electrification system
Railway electrification system
A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units as well as trams so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world...
. With work authorized beginning in 1922, a 134-mile portion of the railroad in the mountains from Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
over Clark's Gap and several other major grades to Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
was equipped with overhead wires supported by a catenary
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
system. The VGN built its own power plant at Narrows, Virginia
Narrows, Virginia
Narrows, named for the narrowing of the New River that flows past it, is a town in Giles County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,111 at the 2000 census...
. The electrification was completed in 1925 at a cost of $15 million, equal to $ today. A link was established with Norfolk & Western to share electricity from its nearby electrification during contingencies. ALCO and Westinghouse
Westinghouse Electric (1886)
Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...
supplied the electric locomotive
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
s, which were equipped with pantograph
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
s. The 36 initial units were normally linked in groups of three as one set, and had much greater load capacity than the steam power they replaced. In 1948, four huge EL-2B
VGN EL-2B
The Virginian Railway's class EL-2B comprised four two-unit electric locomotives with AAR + wheel arrangements. The locomotives were used on the electrified portion of the railroad, from Roanoke, Virginia to Mullens, West Virginia...
twin-unit locomotives were purchased, followed by twelve EL-C
VGN EL-C
The Virginian EL-C was a type of electric locomotive built for the Virginian Railway by General Electric in August of 1955. They were the first successful production locomotives to use Ignitron rectifier technology...
rectifier locomotives in 1955.
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette...
played an important role in 20th-century U.S. naval history. Beginning in 1917, the former Jamestown Exposition
Jamestown Exposition
The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century...
grounds adjacent to the VGN coal pier became an important facility for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. The VGN transported the high quality "smokeless" West Virginia bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
favored by the US Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
for its ships, providing a reliable supply during both World Wars.
In the mid 1950s VGN management realized that the company's devotion to coal as its energy source (for steam locomotives and the power plant at Narrows for the electrification system) was becoming overshadowed by the economies of diesel-electric locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s and a scarcity of parts for the older steam locomotives. Between 1954 and 1957 a total of 66 diesel-electric locomotives were purchased, including 25 Fairbanks-Morse
Fairbanks-Morse
Fairbanks Morse and Company was a manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, locomotives and industrial supplies until it was merged in 1958...
H-24-66 Train Masters, and 40 H-16-44
FM H-16-44
The FM H-16-44 was a road switcher produced by Fairbanks-Morse from April 1950 – February 1963. The locomotive shared an identical platform and carbody with the predecessor Model FM H-15-44 , and were equipped with the same eight-cylinder opposed piston engine that had been...
smaller road switchers, two with steam generators to haul passenger trains. The last steam locomotive operated in June, 1957
1957 in rail transport
-January events:* January 1 - The Chicago and North Western Railway leases the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway .* January 12 - Operations of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's Super Chief and El Capitan passenger trains are combined during off-peak seasons.* January 22 -...
.
End of steam: decline at servicing points
Beginning in 1903, Page, West VirginiaPage, West Virginia
Page is an unincorporated census-designated place in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 224. It was named for William Nelson Page , a civil engineer and industrialist who lived in nearby Ansted, where he managed Gauley Mountain Coal Company and...
, named for Col. William Page, became the site of a switching yard, roundhouse, and station on the Deepwater Railway
Deepwater Railway
The Deepwater Railway was an intrastate short line railroad located in West Virginia in the United States which operated from 1898 to 1907.William N. Page, a civil engineer and entrepreneur, had begun a small logging railroad in Fayette County in 1896, sometimes called the Loup Creek and Deepwater...
and later the Virginian Railway (VGN). After the railroad eliminated steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s in 1957 and the area's coal mines were largely depleted, the facilities at Page were unneeded. Mullens
Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
and Princeton
Princeton, West Virginia
Princeton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 7,652 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 111,586. It is the county seat of Mercer County...
in West Virginia, and Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
, Victoria
Victoria, Virginia
Victoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
and Sewell's Point
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette...
in Virginia were other locations where the extensive steam locomotive servicing facilities and roundhouses were also no longer needed after 1957. The pattern was the same all across America as the steam locomotive era ended.
The VGN-N&W Merger
In time, the larger railroads learned to coexist with their newer competitor, and came to regret turning down opportunities to purchase it before its completion.During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the VGN was jointly operated with its adjacent competitor, the Norfolk & Western Railway (N&W), under the USRA
United States Railroad Administration
The United States Railroad Administration was the name of the nationalized railroad system of the United States between 1917 and 1920. It was possibly the largest American experiment with nationalization, and was undertaken against a background of war emergency.- Background :On April 6, 1917, the...
's wartime takeover of the Pocahontas Roads. The operating efficiencies were significant. After the war, the railroads were returned to their respective owners and competitive status. However, the N&W never lost sight of the VGN and its low-grade routing through Virginia.
After World War I there were many attempts by the C&O, the N&W, and others to acquire the profitable Virginian Railway. However, the US Interstate Commerce Commission
Interstate Commerce Commission
The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...
(ICC) turned down attempts at combining the roads until the late 1950s, when a proposed Norfolk & Western Railway and Virginian Railway merger was finally approved in 1959. The VGN-NW merger is widely believed to have begun the modern era of major railroad mergers as the ICC came to accept that railroads needed to be able to compete more successfully against other modes of transport (i.e. highways and air travel) rather than just against each other.
Heritage: "There will always be a Virginian"
When the VGN lost its identity upon purchase by the Norfolk & Western in 1959, author and photographer H. Reid wrote the epic book "The Virginian Railway" and stated "There will always be a Virginian." So far, time has proved him correct.The VGN in the 21st century
Today, major portions of the VGN low-gradient route are the preferred eastbound coal path for the N&W's successor, the Norfolk Southern RailwayNorfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
.
Other portions of VGN right-of-way in eastern Virginia now transport fresh water and are under study for future high speed passenger rail service to South Hampton Roads from Richmond and Petersburg.
The former VGN property at Sewell's Point is part of the US Naval Station, Norfolk, the largest naval facility in the world.
The Virginian Railway is still a favorite among the many fallen flag
Fallen flag
A fallen flag is a North American railroader and railfan term referring to railroad company no longer in existence due to bankruptcy or merger.-Background:...
s of railroading in the US.
Hobbyists around the world model the VGN in many scales and gauges, with some items considered to be valuable collectibles.
Preservation activity & gatherings
Suffolk, Virginia
Suffolk is the largest city by area in Virginia, United States, and is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,585. Its median household income was $57,546.-History:...
Passenger Station, which was also used by the Seaboard railroads, has been restored and is in use as a museum. Similar plans are underway by the local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society
National Railway Historical Society
The National Railway Historical Society is a non-profit organization established in 1935 in the United States to promote interest in, and appreciation for, the historical development of railroads. It is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and organized into 16 regions and...
in Roanoke
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
for the Virginian Railway Passenger Station
Virginian Railway Passenger Station
The Virginian Railway Passenger Station, also known as the Virginian Station is a former rail station listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the South Jefferson neighborhood of the independent city of Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A...
. The Oak Hill Railroad Depot
Oak Hill Railroad Depot
The Oak Hill Railroad Depot is a historic depot in Oak Hill, West Virginia, United States. The depot is located on the southwest corner of Virginia Avenue and Central Avenue. It opened as a station on the White Oak Railway in 1903 and later became part of the Virginian Railway, which it served...
in Oak Hill, West Virginia
Oak Hill, West Virginia
Oak Hill is a city in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States and is the primary city within the Oak Hill, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area. The micropolitan area is also included in the Beckley-Oak Hill, WV Combined Statistical Area. The population was 7,589 at the 2000 census...
, the only remaining Virginian station in West Virginia, has also been restored by the local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.
Three of the VGN's locomotives and numerous cabooses and other rolling stock survive. One steam and one electric locomotive have been cosmetically restored, and are on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation
Virginia Museum of Transportation
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A..- History :...
in Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
.
In October, 2002 VGN authors and enthusiasts restored the Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
Caboose Museum which had been ravaged in one of West Virginia's notorious floods. The work was funded by sale of handmade models and contributions.
In May, 2003 a Gathering of Rail Friends was held at Victoria, Virginia
Victoria, Virginia
Victoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
, home to a new museum, with a park with historical interpretations of the roundhouse and turntable sites under development. The Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
sent its exhibition train to nearby Crewe
Crewe, Virginia
Crewe is a town in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,378 at the 2000 census. It was founded in 1888 as a central location to house steam locomotive repair shops for the Norfolk and Western Railroad which has a rail yard there for east-west trains carrying Appalachian...
for the event.
Also in May 2003, the Virginian Railway Yard Historic District
Virginian Railway Yard Historic District
Virginian Railway Yard Historic District is a national historic district located at Princeton, Mercer County, West Virginia. The district includes 14 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, and 1 contributing structure related to the Virginian Railway property at Princeton...
at Princeton was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2003.
In April, 2004 children of Boonsboro Elementary School in nearby Bedford, Virginia
Bedford, Virginia
Bedford is an independent city located within the confines of Bedford County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It serves as the county seat of Bedford County. As of 2010, the city had a total population of 6,222. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Bedford with surrounding Bedford...
and the local Kiwanis group in Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
teamed to raise funds and work to save the only surviving original (circa 1910) class C-1 wooden Caboose.
In October, 2004, the Roanoke Times newspaper ran a feature story about the weekly meetings of the "Takin' Twenty with the Virginian Brethren" group of retired VGN railroaders, prominently displaying the model of a modern GE locomotive in Virginian Railway livery, which they hope the railroad will use as a basis for a special painting of current-day Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
locomotive to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1907 founding of their favorite railroad, the Virginian Railway.
In December, 2004, a fully restored and equipped VGN caboose, C-10 #342, built by VGN employees in the former Princeton (WV) Shops, was moved to newly laid rails at Victoria
Victoria, Virginia
Victoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
, where it is the centerpiece of a new rail heritage park. It was dedicated in the summer of 2005, and has become a favorite of school groups in Southside Virginia.
In April 2005, the Virginian Railway Coalfield Seminar was held for three days at Twin Falls State Park, near Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens, West Virginia
Mullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
. Railfriends from many parts of the United States toured coal mining and railroad facilities for three days on several buses, and participated in presentations and group seminars with a Congressman, local officials, several noted authors and historians. The delegation of retirees based in Roanoke also attended. The program was considered to be the start of celebration of the railroad's centennial from 2007 until 2009.
The following year, in April, 2006, the Milepost 2006 seminar was held in Roanoke, Virginia. Again, several days of events, presentations, special tours, and a visit to the currently closed former Virginian Railway Passenger Station
Virginian Railway Passenger Station
The Virginian Railway Passenger Station, also known as the Virginian Station is a former rail station listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the South Jefferson neighborhood of the independent city of Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A...
in Roanoke which is currently under preservation and restoration.
Museums and stations
- Mullens, West VirginiaMullens, West VirginiaMullens is a city in Wyoming County, West Virginia. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 1,769.Located in a valley along the Guyandotte River within a mountainous region of southern West Virginia, the town was nearly destroyed by flash flooding in July 2001...
VGN Caboose 307 Museum
- Princeton, West VirginiaPrinceton, West VirginiaPrinceton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 7,652 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 111,586. It is the county seat of Mercer County...
Replica Station and Museum
- Roanoke, VirginiaRoanoke, VirginiaRoanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
Virginia Museum of Transportation - 2 VGN locomotives and misc. rolling stock
- Roanoke, VirginiaRoanoke, VirginiaRoanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...
Preservation of VGN Passenger Station and Future Museum
- Victoria, VirginiaVictoria, VirginiaVictoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
Fully restored and equipped VGN caboose 342 and Museum
- Suffolk, VirginiaSuffolk, VirginiaSuffolk is the largest city by area in Virginia, United States, and is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,585. Its median household income was $57,546.-History:...
restored Seaboard and VGN combination station, Museum and model train layout of Suffolk area circa 1940
VGN lives on through the Internet
One of the lasting features of the VGN seems to be the heritage of the railroad, an example of a successful US transportation company. Beginning with H. ReidH. Reid
Harold A. Reid was an American writer, photographer, and historian. Reid is best known for his lifelong love of railroading and related photography and published work...
's storytelling and photography in "The Virginian Railway", published in 1961, and reprinted at least three times, there have been numerous books published and enthusiasts groups formed, some of which meet physically, and others, on the World Wide Web.
Formed in 2002, the Virginian Railway (VGN) Enthusiasts, a non-profit group of preservationists, authors, photographers, historians, modelers, and rail fans has grown to over 850 members as far from the VGN tracks as New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, including U.S. troops stationed in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. A group of retired railroaders calling themselves "The Virginian Brethren" meet weekly, share tales of the VGN, and answer questions posed by members of the online group.
See also
- William N. PageWilliam N. PageWilliam Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
- Henry H. RogersHenry H. RogersHenry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
- Bituminous coalBituminous coalBituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
- Robber baronsRobber baron (industrialist)Robber baron is a pejorative term used for a powerful 19th century American businessman. By the 1890s the term was used to attack any businessman who used questionable practices to become wealthy...
- Norfolk and Western RailwayNorfolk and Western RailwayThe Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....
- Chesapeake and Ohio RailwayChesapeake and Ohio RailwayThe Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P...
- Ansted, West VirginiaAnsted, West VirginiaAnsted is a town in Fayette County in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is situated on high bluffs along U.S. Highway 60 on a portion of the Midland Trail a National Scenic Byway near Hawk's Nest overlooking the New River far below....
- Victoria, VirginiaVictoria, VirginiaVictoria is an incorporated town in Lunenburg County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,821 at the 2000 census.- History :Lunenburg County in the Southside region was established on May 1, 1746 in Great Britain's Virginia Colony from Brunswick County...
- Sewell's PointSewell's PointSewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to the north, Hampton Roads to the west, and the Lafayette...
- Hampton RoadsHampton RoadsHampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
- Jamestown ExpositionJamestown ExpositionThe Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century...
- Railroad electrification in the United StatesRailroad electrification in the United StatesRailroad electrification in the United States comprised many different systems in many different geographical areas, few of which were connected. Despite this, there were a small number of common reasons for electrification....
Books
- Barger, Ralph L. (1983) Corporate History of Coal & Coke Railway Co., Charleston, Clendennin & Sutton R.R., Roaring Creek & Belington R.R. Co., as of Date of Valuation, June 30, 1918. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Historical Society.
- Cartlidge, Oscar (1936) Fifty Years of Coal Mining Charleston, WV: Rose City Press.
- Conley, Phil (1960) History of the Coal Industry of West Virginia Charleston, WV: Educational Foundation.
- Conley, Phil (1923) Life in a West Virginia Coal Field Charleston, WV: American Constitutional Association.
- Corbin, David Alan (1981) Life, Work and Rebellion in the Coal Fields: The Southern West Virginia Miners, 1880-1922 Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois PressUniversity of Illinois PressThe University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
. - Corbin, David Alan, editor (1990) The West Virginia Mine Wars: An Anthology Charleston, WV: Appalachian Editions.
- Craigo, Robert W., editor (1977) The New River Company: Mining Coal and Making History, 1906-1976 Mount Hope, WV: New River Company.
- Dix, Keith (1977) Work Relations in the Coal Industry: The Hand Loading Era, 1880-1930 Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Institute for Labor Studies.
- Dixon, Thomas W, Jr., (1994) Appalachian Coal Mines & Railroads. Lynchburg, Virginia: TLC Publishing Inc. ISBN 1-883089-08-5
- Frazier, Claude Albee (1992) Miners and Medicine: West Virginia Memories Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma PressUniversity of Oklahoma PressThe University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
. - Huddleston, Eugene L, Ph.D. (2002) Appalachian Conquest, Lynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
: TLC Publishing Inc. ISBN 1-883089-79-4 - Lambie, Joseph T. (1954) From Mine to Market: The History of Coal Transportation on the Norfolk and Western Railway New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
: New York University Press - Lane, Winthrop David (1921) Civil War in West Virginia: A Story of the Industrial Conflict in the Coal Mines New York, NY: B. W. Huebsch, Inc.
- Lewis, Lloyd D. (1992) The Virginian Era. Lynchburg, Virginia: TLC Publishing Inc.
- Lewis, Lloyd D. (1994) Norfolk & Western and Virginian Railways in Color by H. Reid. Lynchburg, Virginia: TLC Publishing Inc. ISBN 1-883089-09-3
- MacCorkle, William (1928) The Recollections of Fifty Years New York, New York: G. P. Putnam's SonsG. P. Putnam's SonsG. P. Putnam's Sons was a major United States book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.-History:...
Publishing - Middleton, William D. (1974) When The Steam Railroads Electrified (1st ed.). Milwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
: Kalmbach PublishingKalmbach PublishingKalmbach Publishing Co. is an American publisher of books and magazines, many of them railroad-related. It is now located in nearby Waukesha, Wisconsin...
Co. ISBN 0-89024-028-0 - Reid, H. (1961). The Virginian Railway (1st ed.). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Co.
- Reisweber, Kurt (1995) Virginian Rails 1953-1993 (1st ed.) Old Line Graphics. ISBN 1-879314-11-8
- Sullivan, Ken, editor (1991) The Goldenseal Book of the West Virginia Mine Wars: Articles Reprinted from Goldenseal Magazine, 1977-1991. Charleston: Pictorial Histories Pub. Co.
- Striplin, E. F. Pat. (1981) The Norfolk & Western : a history Roanoke, Va. : Norfolk and Western Railway Co. ISBN 0-9633254-6-9
- Tams, W. P. (1963) The Smokeless Coal Fields of West Virginia Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Library.
- Thoenen, Eugene D. (1964) History of the Oil and Gas Industry in West Virginia Charleston, WV:
- Traser, Donald R. (1998) Virginia Railway Depots. Old Dominion Chapter, National Railway Historical Society. ISBN 0-9669906-0-9
- various contributors (1968). Who Was Who in America Volume I (7th ed.). New Providence, New JerseyNew Providence, New JerseyNew Providence is a borough on the northwestern edge of Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is located on the Passaic River, which forms the county boundary with Morris County...
: Marquis Who’s Who - Wiley, Aubrey and Wallace, Conley (1985). The Virginian Railway Handbook. Lynchburg, Virginia: W-W Publications.
Periodical, business, and on-line publications
- Beale, Frank D. (1955) The Virginian Railway Company 45th Annual Report Year Ended December 31, 1954. published in-house
- Cuthriell, N.L. (1956) Coal On The Move Via The Virginian Railway, reprinted with permission of Norfolk Southern Corporation in 1995 by Norfolk & Western Historical Society, Inc. ISBN 0-9633254-2-6
- Dept. of the Navy - (2004) Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships - article on steamship William N. Page. Washington DC: US Naval Historical Center
- Doyle, Lee P. "The Virginia Railway Electrification", Ohio State Engineer, The, Vol. 9, No. 2 (January 1926), pp. 11-13 and 38. Retrieved on 3/1/2011. Describes original electrification of Virginian Main Line.
- Huddleston, Eugene L, Ph.D. (1992) National Railway Bulletin Vol. 57, Number 4, article: Virginian: Henry Huttleston Rogers' Questionable Achievement
- Morton, R.B. "Arrangements of Feeders and Equipment for Electrified Railways", American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Transactions of the, Vol 47, Issue 4, pp. 1297-1301, 1928. DOI: 10.1109/T-AIEE.1928.5055139 Discusses topology of electrification feeders.
- Reid, H. (1953) "Trains & Travel Magazine" December, 1953 "Some Fine Engines", Kalmbach Publishing Co.
- Skaggs, Geoffery - (1985) Page-Vawter House Project in Ansted Ansted, WV: Fayette County Government